Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and party leaders are travelling to Brussels for critical talks with the EU on measures aimed at staving off bankruptcy for the island.
The delegation was to depart at lunchtime and return to Cyprus late on Saturday or on Sunday, a day ahead of a deadline to adopt the measures aimed at raising 5.8 billion euros (US$7.5 billion) in order to secure a 10-billion-euro bailout, the official CNA news agency reported.
Cypriot politicians are facing increasing pressure to rethink their rejection of a levy on bank deposits, as the deadline approaches.
They approved the first three of eight measures put forward by the government in their bid to meet the terms of the EU bailout in a late-night session on Friday.
Employees of the Laiki (Popular) Bank protest outside parliament on Thursday in Nicosia.
But with the the clock ticking down to a Sunday meeting with euro zone finance ministers, MPs still have to debate more contentious issues, such as a tax of up to 15% on bank deposits of 100,000 euros ($129,000) and more.
The government needs to seal the package by Monday or face being denied European Central Bank emergency funds, a blow that would devastate the island's banks and its economy.
On Tuesday, MPs flatly rejected proposals for a 9.9% tax on bank deposits over 100,000 euros, with a 6.75% levy on deposits of between 20,000 and 100,000 euros.
The original proposal had also proposed to tax savings below 20,000 euros, but the parliament's financial committee had dropped it before the vote.
The levy would have hurt many ordinary Cypriots as well as many Russians, including wealthy tycoons. They hold between a third and half of all Cypriot deposits and are believed to have more than $30 billion in private and corporate cash in the island's banks.
With the EU deadline approaching, Cyprus's chamber of commerce and employers' federation have joined its major banks in calling on deputies to reconsider their rejection of the levy.
Some of the bank employees demonstrating outside parliament were among those calling for a rethink on the tax, or "haircut".
In Friday's late-night session, the MPs backed a national solidarity fund to be set up through the nationalisation of public and private sector pensions.
They also approved capital controls to prevent a run on the island's troubled banks when they finally reopen on Tuesday after more than a week.
And they passed a restructuring plan drawn up by the central bank that will separate good debts from bad in the island's troubled banks, particularly second largest lender Popular Bank -- Laiki in Greek.
This bill, easily the most contentious of the three approved, passed by 26 votes to two, with 25 abstentions.
Acting ruling Disy party leader Averof Neophytou has appealed to MPs to back the legislation, saying it would guarantee all deposits of up to 100,000 euros. Those with larger balances however might have to wait years to get all their money back.
Neophytou said the plan would also secure some 8,000 jobs in Popular Bank, although a few hundred might be lost through restructuring.
Friday's emergency session came after angry bank employees, fearful for their jobs, demonstrated outside parliament as rows of riot police lined up behind barriers facing them.
MPs adjourned the session shortly before midnight with no time set to resume debate on the rest of the government's package. It is aimed at raising 5.8 billion euros to unlock loans worth 10 billion euros.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Cyprus against "exhausting the patience of euro zone partners" at a meeting Friday with the parliamentary group of her junior Free Democratic Party coalition partners, participants told AFP.
Some EU sources have said the bloc is ready to eject Cyprus from the eurozone to prevent contagion of other debt-hit members such as Greece, Spain and Italy.
While bank employees demonstrated Friday in favour of pushing through a levy on deposits, other protesters vehemently oppose the measure.
A group of about 30 hooded youths burned a European flag next to the parliament building in front of police barricades. "The haircut is robbery," they chanted.
Eurozone finance ministers and IMF chief Christine Lagarde will gather in Brussels on Sunday in a bid to finalise the Cyprus rescue before Monday's deadline.
EU leaders said next week's summit with Japan to launch free trade talks had been postponed indefinitely as they try to resolve the situation in Cyprus.
Ratings agency Moody's downgraded the creditworthiness of all three main Cyprus banks, citing expected depositor losses, the imposition of capital controls and uncertainty over recapitalisation plans.
Cypriot hopes of an economic lifeline from Russia have so far come to nothing. Finance Minister Michalis Sarris left Moscow on Friday after two days of inconclusive talks.
But Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said later that Moscow had not closed the door on future assistance.
Athanasios Orphanides, a former governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus denounced the terms of the EU bailout, in an interview with AFP.
"When governments in some of the larger European member states start blackmailing the government of one small member state to confiscate deposits, the question is, who's next?" said Orphanides, who led the Central Bank of Cyprus from 2007-12.